Medical Progress has followed a common thematic trend line in favor of less invasive diagnosis and treatment.
For example, surgeons have dramatically expanded the range of procedures through laparoscopy. The use of such procedures frequently reduces patient recovery time, otherwise improve surgical results, and perhaps most importantly make it more likely that patients will actually seek out corrective measures.
Similarly, laser therapies are employed to remedy various conditions.
In the field of diagnostics, magnetic image resonance and other scanning methods are routinely used for non-invasive real time diagnosis of the body of humans and animals.
In drug development, too we see this same trend. Drug therapies are developed to replace surgical resolution where possible. And, innovators seek less invasive drug delivery methods. For example, Revance Therapeutics is hard at work on a topically administered Botox to possibly enable Botox users to avoid the discomfort of injection. Oral insulin is the Holy Grail for would-be drug delivery innovators.
The field of blood analyzers, including personal analyzers, has advanced. Much of this innovation has been enabled by the proliferation of personal analyte monitors with attendant advances in the use of methods to minimize the discomfort associated with blood sampling. Still, even with these examples such sampling is not a preferred activity except for the convenience thereby offered by personal testing as compared with lab-based testing.
Advances in microfluidics testing allows for real time (or near real time) testing of various bodily fluids. For example, Opko health's system can test (or potentially test) blood, saliva, semen, spinal fluid, serum, tears, urine, amniotic fluid or sweat. See, http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/OPKO/1605280361x0x518628/c74bb6cb-fcfb-4340-9c37-f6db9f4fd088/OPKO-Lazard-Presentation-Nov-11-2011_Final.pdf.
When one considers the area of less invasive diagnostics, the use of the breath is an area that will be in our future. It has been demonstrated, for example, that some animals, like dogs, are able to detect the presence of cancer in the breath of cancer patients to high level of accuracy. Such detection is thought to rely upon the olfactory ability of dogs to detect very low concentrations of the alkanes and aromatic compounds generated by tumors (see http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/110818/dogs-smell-lung-cancer-study; see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_cancer_detection).
Xhale, a Florida-based company (www.xhale.com), is working to develop a breath based-glucose monitoring system for use in connection with the treatment of diabetes and other applications. Similarly, Prof. Pietro Galassetti, at University of California at Irvine, is reportedly at work on a system to monitor glucose levels in breath (see “A Breath Test for Blood Glucose” published The Healthy Living Magazine's Diabetes Forecast January 2010 describing Prof. Galassetti's work).
However, the trend towards less invasive diagnostic methods—including methodologies based on breath—will be in our near future. As in any area, there are challenges along the way for innovators and inventors to solve. A review of the prior art in breath-based diagnostics reveals a number of challenges. Indeed, the absence of breath diagnostics from the commercial space—apart from law enforcement use of the breathalyzer—demonstrates that such challenges have not yet been surmounted by the state of the art. Thus, further invention is required to develop the field of breath diagnostics.